INEC declares elections in Abuja inconclusive

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the Kuje Area Council chairmanship and councillorship elections inconclusive.

INEC’s Returning Officer for the council, Zainab Gbefwi, told newsmen that the election was declared inconclusive due to electoral violence in Rubochi.
Gbefwi said that because of the violence, the elections in Rubochi ward and some polling units in Kwaku and Kabi, where Card Readers were not fully used had to be cancelled.

She added that INEC materials were destroyed and some ad hoc staff injured in the course of the violence that occurred.
“At the end of collation, there was no clear winner because the candidate that had the majority votes had one-quarter of two-thirds of the votes cast.
“But the difference between the candidate with the majority votes and the next candidate is very small as compared to the number of registered voters and votes cancelled,” she said.

The returning officer said that re-run elections would be organised in Kabi, Kasa, and other polling units as a result of over voting.
She said that the date for the re-run would be announced later after consultations with the FCT Resident Electoral Officer.
Similarly, Prof. Wesley Nafarda, Bwari Council Elections Returning Officer, has declared the elections in the council inconclusive due to some hitches at some polling units.
Nafarda Said this during the collation of results at Bwari on Sunday.

He added that 17 polling units including all the 12 units at Kawu ward were canceled.
Others canceled are two units at Dakwa and Public Place, in Kubwa ward, one unit at Gidan Bawa under Dutsen Alhaji ward, one unit which is at Primary School in Igu ward while the last one is still pending.
According to him, total number of registered voters are 224,737; accredited voters 44250; valid votes 42,291; rejected votes 1,137 and total cast are 42,428.

Nafarda said the difference between the highest scorer was 5,997, which made the election inconclusive.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PDP scored 22,711 while APC scored 16,714.
The Returning Officer attributed the case of Kawu ward, which had all the 12 polling units canceled as thuggery.

He said after the results were collated, thugs appeared and destroyed the result sheets and other voting materials.
He assured the public that a new date would be announced for another election at the various affected units.